Quality of sharpening in Aperture

Hi,
I have been practicing a lot with the settings in the adjustment HUD for sharpen and sharpen edge. I did some comparisons with the results of sharpening in Capture NX2 (I shoot Nikon RAWs) as well as PS CS3. I have the impression that the results from NX2 and CX3 are much better than from Aperture (2.1). In CS3 and NX2 sharpening gives a much finer result.
Is it a common opinion that sharpening is Aperture is not as good as the other tools? Any advices for me?

I have been trying the demo already, I do admit the results are very good. But to spend $199 for some better sharpening is a bit too much for this enthusiastic photo hobbyist.
Next to that, the downside of using plugins is that you are not able to lift and stamp the adjustments to other pictures. Maybe with some scripting or something, but I never tried. I prefer to give a series of similar pictures similar adjustments to start with.

Similar Messages

Sharpening in Aperture 1.5.6

I'm using Aperture 1.5.6 on OSX 10.4.11
My camera is a canon 40d.
When I import RAW images from the memory card I've noticed that if i open the adjustments HUD and look at the Edge sharpening intensity slider, it's already at around 0.8
I'm used to opening my files, after any adjustments in Aperture, in Photoshop CS3 via the "open with external editor" command and performing Unsharp Mask on them. Should I slide the Edge Sharpen Intensity slider to 0 if I'm intending to sharpen with an external editor?
I'm not as familiar with the sharpening in Aperture as I am with the unsharp mask filter in PS.
It would be nice if I could get the same quality of sharpening in Aperture as I achieve in PS as that's all I'm using PS for in most cases.
Can anyone advise on how I can get similar results in Aperture or whether I should continue to sharpen in PS.
Thanks.

gah hey im having this problem too
and it all worked last week <?>
formatted flash drive on camera.
downloaded photos from a file reader via flash drive.
camera = canon mk3ds eos
can see previews in apeture (2.1.2) but large image on browser is unsupported.
error message "unsupported image format".
have tried downloading them again and importing them again etc.
both straight into apeture and via hard drive folder.
but it worked last week?
bit upset i love aperture and my new camera now nothing is working well
for info i loaded up canon photo professional which is canons own brand image processor (which is a bit rubbish imho) and the images worked on that.
they will not import to photoshop (an old version)

Sharpener Pro 3 has problems in Aperture as the Pre sharpener continually asks one to buy or activate and the Output Sharpener causes Aperture to hang. Have removed all duplicate fonts and tried using a new user account. Any ideas?

I am experiencing problems with Sharpener Pro 3 as an Aperture 3 plug-in. These are: the Pre sharpener continually asks one to buy or activate and the Output Sharpener causes Aperture to hang. Following discussions with Nik Software I have removed all duplicate fonts and tried using a new user account. Neither of the courses of action worked. Have other users experienced these difficulties? Can you suggest an alternative remedy?

I am experiencing problems with Sharpener Pro 3 as an Aperture 3 plug-in. These are: the Pre sharpener continually asks one to buy or activate and the Output Sharpener causes Aperture to hang. Following discussions with Nik Software I have removed all duplicate fonts and tried using a new user account. Neither of the courses of action worked. Have other users experienced these difficulties? Can you suggest an alternative remedy?

Am I losing image quality using Lightroom or Aperture

So, I have been going back and forth on this almost endlessly for over a year now.
I shoot RAW with a D3 and a D3X, for action and studio. But every now and then, I open up one of my RAW files in Nikon ViewNX, oe Capture NX. When I do this and look at definition and sharpness of the image as compared to the same image, viewed in either Aperture or Lightroom, Nikon View wins every time. I notice it most in loose hairs, or distant branches or leaves, The Nikon SW just seems to be sharper and more defined.
I always compare at 100% in each program.
It's driving me nuts! Both Aperture and Lightroom are infinately better to use than the Nikon SW, but, having invested so much in Cameras and lenses to get the highest fidelity, I am reluctant to switch.
I am using the latest version of each application.
PS. when I generate TIFs from the RAWs in the Nikon SW and load them into aperture or lightroom, they do have the same fidelity.
Anyone seen this? is it just a rendering issue on the screen? Will the output look the same? or is it the proprietary RAW files from Nikon that are holding back some critical info that imporved the image?
Would really appreciate your feedback/input
Nick

is it just a rendering issue on the screen?
Yes. In addition to what Sean notes, Lightroom uses a bicubic scaler in its zoomed out views. This means that you get far less moiré artefacts when zoomed out, but will make the image appear less sharp when zoomed out. Capture and ViewNX use a nearest neighbor scaling which appears sharper (but actually isn't) when zoomed out. You should look at 1:1 (100%) to actually compare the programs. Be aware that Nikon applies a LOT of sharpening by default and that the default sharpening in Lightroom is pretty mild. They also by default apply excessive (in my opinion) noise reduction. You can get far higher quality and more detail out of Lightroom than the default rendering in Capture/View but you'll have to work a little on it. The starting points for sharpening are very conservative.
Will the output look the same?
Try it. In my experience, if you work a little, Lightroom is quite a bit better. Once in a while I like the color rendition from Capture NX better (even when using the camera-matching profiles) but those are rare conditions.
is it the proprietary RAW files from Nikon that are holding back some critical info that imporved the image?
No that is a silly myth that Nikon likes to perpetuate. There is no secret info in the file that somehow allows you to get more detail or something. Just try it and you'll see. You can only judge the detail in the rendering at 1:1.

Poor quality conversion/downsizing with Aperture Export

I have noticed a difference in quality of exported JPG files, depending on if I downsize them manually, ahead of time, using an external editor (PSE) or if I let Aperture downsize them during export. The images downsized in PSE are noticeably sharper than the ones downsized by Aperture. Originals are high res JPG files from my D90 that I have converted to TIFF and touched up using PSE as an external editor. I would like to keep the full size, adjusted TIFF file as a master and just export to whatever size JPG is needed at the time. With the low quality Aperture exports (compared to downsizing first in PSE), I am having to individually downsize each TIFF in PSE prior to exporting as a JPG in “original size” mode (vs. letting Aperture handle the downsizing). Has anyone else noticed this degradation when exporting/downsizing in Aperture2? Is there any work around? Any comments would be appreciated! Thanks! (All export was done in JPG quality 10, with no pre-sharpening performed.)

Firstly, using window>show movie info, find out what the current bit rate is of the original movie.
When you come to export, keep the bit rate as close as possible to the original bit rate, keep the resolution the same as well as the frame rate. You should hopefully get much better quality.

Poor image quality in pdf for Aperture book

Can anyone tell me how to retain the quality of original images when I export to PDF for book production in Aperture?
I am trying to produce a book with 11 pages, in large soft back format. Most of the images are black and white, and all are PNGs. Individual files size are typically 12MB - 20MB, and the longer side of the images is mostly over 5000 pixels. They all look very clean and crisp full screen in Aperture, and there are no warning triangles in the page make-ups to highlight any instances of poor resolution.
I’m producing the PDF, via ‘Print’ > ‘Save as PDF’. The resulting file is 2.6MB.
Viewed in Preview, some of the images in the PDF superficially appear to be OK. Some are not - and are very indistinct. Zooming in on the images in Preview shows that very few are useable.
I produced a colour book, with larger pages last year and was very happy with both the PDF and the finished book in print. Some example file sizes from that one were: 15.3MB (3950x2633) and 9.30MB (2880x 1920).
I had expected the black and white images to work even better.
What am I doing wrong here?
I'm using Aperture 3.2.1 on a MacBook Pro running 10.6.8.

I just remade the same book - as a test - in the extra large hardback format (ie. the one I used for the previous publication, last year).
This time, the pictures are fine. The images appear to be the same quality in the PDF as the originals - much, much better. The size of the file has increased massively too > up from just 2.6MB to 52.8MB.
So does the books production function work well only with the biggest, most expensive option?
I'd really appreciate some feedback from anyone who's tried the different sizes, and preferably some brilliant ideas to make them all work equally well.

Nikon D1x - raw file size and sharpening in Aperture

Good day all:
I have looked for several hours but can't find the answer to two questions:
1) How to set Aperture to use the full file size for the D1x, approx. 10.7 MB, vs the smaller Raw file size of 7.7 MB. The Nikon software all allows this function. Can aperture do it?
2)Aperture greys out the shrapening buttons for my D1x files, but allows it for my D100. I have tried every permutation I can think of, no luck. I wonder if it might be related to question #1? Thanks so much. I really need to do some sharpening!
Randy

Good day all:
I have looked for several hours but can't find the answer to two questions:
1) How to set Aperture to use the full file size for the D1x, approx. 10.7 MB, vs the smaller Raw file size of 7.7 MB. The Nikon software all allows this function. Can aperture do it?
2)Aperture greys out the shrapening buttons for my D1x files, but allows it for my D100. I have tried every permutation I can think of, no luck. I wonder if it might be related to question #1? Thanks so much. I really need to do some sharpening!
Randy

Capture Sharpening in Aperture

Is there a good source for information about capture shapening within Aperture? Using edge sharpening, it seems to do a reasonable job for files that will not be enlarged much, but when I try to print even 16x20 from a 6 MP file, the images seem either soft, or if I boost the sharpening, I see artifacts and crunchy pixels. If I export files without sharpening and use Photokit Sharpener for capture and output sharpening, all is well. I have been using Lightroom since it was in beta, and I am very happy with the capture sharpening there. I'd like to get similar results from Aperture if I am going to use it regularly. (Perhaps the rumored 2.0 update will take care of that)

There really isn't an Aperture equivalent to Photokit and its one of the big drawbacks of Aperture for me. The problem is that to do "Bruce Fraser" type sharpening you need to do output sharpening at the desired output resolution. There is no way to do this in the current version of Aperture.
However, I have a workaround that sort of works. I alter the sharpening in Raw Fine tuning to do capture sharpening and then I use Edge Sharpening for output sharpening. I got the settings by starting with unsharpened raw images. I exported them to Photoshop and used Photokit to do capture sharpening. I then went back to Aperture and adjusted the sharpening in raw fine tuning to match ( as well as I could) the results in Photoshop.
Output sharpening was harder because it depends on the size you will print at, but I followed a similar procedure except in this case I tested parameters by exporting the file from Aperture at various sizes after sharpening and then comparing to a version sharpened with Photokit. I did this at two sizes, full size and roughly half-size at 300 dpi.
I went through this because I was doing an Aperture book and I didn't want to have to export each photo in the book to Photoshop for sharpening. It worked pretty well both with Apple printing and SharedInk printing.
The settings I used are below, but they were created for a 6 Megapixel DLSR ( a Canon D60). You would have to alter the settings for different cameras, though the approach to finding the settings would be the same:
Capture Sharpening:
Wide Edge
Intensity:0.60
Edges:0.63
Medium Edge
Intensity:0.60
Edges:1.0
Output Sharpening;
Using Edge Sharpen:
Full size
Intensity:0.5
Edges:1.0
Fall off:0.7
Half-size
Intensity:0.5
Edges:1.0
Fall off:1.0
The settings worked better for full size than half-size.
If Apple is listening then I would suggest that they read Bruce Fraser's Real World Sharpening book and allow Aperture to match the multi-pass sharpening approach he outlines. That would primarily involve changes in edge sharpening, by allowing it to be done at final output resolution and allowing edge sharpen settings to be sensitive to output resolution.
-Will Rabinovich

Low-quality iPhone images from Aperture 2.0

Hi. I'm trying Aperture 2.0, and I configured iTunes to sync some photos from Aperture with my iPhone.
The problem is, the photos on my iPhone from Aperture are noticeably lower in quality than those synced from iPhoto. The images are blurry and look like low-quality JPG's.
In Aperture's preferences, I set the preview quality slider to maximum and set the limit preview size menu to "don't limit". Still, the images on my iPhone are of poor quality.
Is there anything I can do to make the images Aperture exports to my iPhone look as good as those synced from iPhoto?
Thanks!

It seems that Ap2 syncs the previews to the iPhone... you have to clear the previous cached previews before it will load higher quality previews... anyhow, here is what I did... and photos look better on my iphone (not feeling motivated enough to verify if it is the same quality as iphoto sync)...
1.) change Ap2 prefs for "limit preview size" to "don't limit"...
2.) select all the photos in the album(s) you are want to sync, right click (ctrl click), and select delete previews...
3.) sync your iphone again...
if that doesn't work directly, you might need to uncheck sync photos to delete all photos on the iphone, but the ultimate goal is to ensure refresh with the higher quality previews...
Hope that makes sense or gets folks in the right direction... Apple really needs to put a check box in future version of itunes to sync full quality or something...

Quality of books in aperture compared to asuka books and blurb books?

Compare the qualtiy of Aperture books to Asuka and blurb books...how do they compare?

Aperture books are comparable to Blurb with regards to printing, but slightly better quality with regards to binding. Paper is comparable to premium paper @ Blurb, but maybe a tad thicker. Never used Asuka, so can't tell your anything 'bout that.

RAW to Jpeg quality looks fine in Aperture not so good on Web page

I am using the latest version of Aperture with the Retina display. The Raw images look tremendous, after I resize the image and save it to jpeg the image still looks good. When I upload to a web page the image looks horrible. There is a lot of noise and the image over all looks blurred. I open it in Aperture and it looks fine. What is the issue? I have tried the different settings when saving the image and nothing works. I have also saved the image in a tif format and still the same issue. Looks great in aperture not so great on the web. Please help if possible.

Your site is likely re-sampling your file, perhaps because it is too large. Ask the Webmaster what size and quality to make the JPGs, and export to that. There may also be a browser issue.
If you provide some details re: exactly how your are exporting, which site you are using, how the JPG is used, etc., someone here may be able to provide additional guidance -- but this seems to be a Web question, as Aperture -- from what you say -- is working well for you.

Can Aperture 3 alone-and a pro printer, deliver museum quality prints?

I have been looking around for master classes in museum quality printing, but all the classes I know of use either Photoshop or Light Room (and Epson printers - while I own a Canon.) So I am off to a bad start here.
I don't mind buying another, better pro printer, but leaving Aperture 3 behind and starting another (steepr) learning curve with new software to follow advanced printing classes is a daunting idea.
Any ideas from anyone with museum quality printing?
Thanks,
Raphael

Raphael -- your question is unanswerable without a definition of "museum quality".
If you have "museum quality" images, you can make "museum quality" prints from within Aperture. Aperture's print engine is very good. It may be that in order to make the prints you want, you will use other print engines. There is nothing in Aperture that degrades the print quality of the images you import.
As Frank points out, the difficult aspects are color management and dynamic range. These have more to do with the color space in which you work, and the equipment used to work on it, than on Aperture itself.
Whether Aperture can meet your needs -- "enough of the type of adjustments required to produce an adjusted image capable of producing a superb quality print" -- is only determinable by you. There is very very little you can't do using the brushed adjustments.
Fwiw, I've printed 24 MP images on Epson 9900 printers at 24 x 36 inches and been entirely pleased.

Hi, I want to know if the quality of a photo book with iphoto is the same that with aperture,

the photos have the same quality, because I used aperture to retouch it, but for me is easy make a photo book with iphoto, I only imported the photos form aperture to iphoto, and I made the photo book, I want to buy it, but before I want to know which one have more quality or if the method of impression, aperture and iphoto, are the same.
so have both the same quality of impression?
And if the answer is no, Can I export my photo book form iphoto to aperture? how?
Thanks a lot

Quality is a personal opinion - I assume (but no one here really knows for sure) that the same vendor does both -
- here are technical details on both - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3412
in cany case you can not move a photo book from iPhoto to Aperature
And Apple does have a 100% satisfaction guarentee
LN

Help using Nik Sharpener Pro for output to Aperture Book...

I wonder if anyone knows what printers Apple uses in the U.S. for Aperture book printing. 'Googling' leads me to think that they are 'digital' but I don't know how to translate that for the settings in Sharpener Pro.
Or is there a prescribed way to sharpen (with general setting info) in Aperture itself. I know how to sharpen in Aperture (3.4.3) but don't know what is the right method for images destined for a book.
My images are almost all portraits, and close-ups specifically, so eyes are particularly important.
I have spent a lot of time trying to find help with this online. My two Aperture books say nothing.
Any other advice for optimizing the results would be most appreciated.
Thanks...

Thank you for this! I hope it helps (the best info so far) but I wish that someone from Apple would update for all of us the specs of the printers that they are using now (four years later than the discussion referenced).

Aperture3 does not export sharpening

Hi,
I've been using Aperture3 for a few months now but only recenly got into more serious post-processing, especially using quick brushes including sharpening. I have just noticed that my sharpening adjustments are not transferred into exported copies, be it jpeg or tiff. I am working with RAW files from Panasonic FZ-150 converting them to tiff in order to apply noise reduction with Topaz plug-in and after that I apply all other adjustments including quick brushes in Aperture. Then I export from Aperture using JPEG - Original Size with Quality 12 and sRGB profile. The resulting JPEG files are not comressed (appx 9MB in size) but the images definitely lack sharpening. This is not a compression issue; if I turn sharpening off in Aperture the images turn identical to the exported copies. So this is definitely a problem with export.
Here is one example where the difference is especially noticeable because the original image was not very sharp in the first place. Yet selective sharpening seems to give very good results in Aperture; however the export version on the left does not contain any signs of sharpening.
I have found a few old threads about this issue but without any solution. I hope Aperture technical gurus are reading and responding on this forum and will be able to help. Has this been fixed? I really like selective sharpening in Aperture but what's the point if I can't share the results. Hope somebody can provide the solution.

Ok, and here is my third and probably last post. As I suspected after my analysis of 100% crops, exporting with reduced sizes actually helps to achieve very similar JPEG look comparing to the original version in Aperture. Here is an example with the same file from the previous two posts but using export preset "Fit within 1024x900" and Quality 12. The resulting jpeg output looks much closer to the original on the screen; any difference is purely attributable to the compression effect (the output file size is only 500k). So I guess this solves the problem - I will use smaller export size to make sure it looks close enough to the original for web sharing. Hope this thread will help other users in the future. If you have any other tips with regard to this "issue", please share.

Quality of sharpening in Aperture

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for